1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic member which can be used for an electrophotographic type of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer, an intermediate transfer member, an image forming apparatus using the electrophotographic member, and a method for manufacturing the electrophotographic member.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in an electrophotographic type of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer, an image forming apparatus has been marketed which can obtain a color image of high quality. Generally, when obtaining the color image of the high quality, firstly, the image forming apparatus develops a toner image of each color by each color, then sequentially transfers the developed image onto an intermediate transfer member, and forms the color image on the intermediate transfer member. Next, the image forming apparatus collectively retransfers the color image which has been formed on this intermediate transfer member onto a transfer material, and obtains the color image of the high quality having little misalignment in the image. The intermediate transfer member used here is generally a semi-electroconductive belt, and a representative intermediate transfer member includes a belt that is formed from polyimide or polyamide-imide, which are thermosetting resins, in which carbon black is dispersed. Such an intermediate transfer belt can be obtained by: preparing the dispersion liquid that has the carbon black dispersed in a resin varnish or a varnish of polyamic acid which is a precursor of a resin; forming a coating film from the dispersion liquid; and baking the coating film. On the other hand, in recent years, it has been investigated to manufacture a belt by melting, extruding and molding a resin composition which has the carbon black dispersed in a thermoplastic resin. This is because the thermoplastic resin can be melted, extruded and molded, and has more advantages than those of the thermosetting resin in points of an environmental load and a cost.
Under these circumstances, an image forming apparatus which is required to operate at a high speed and have high durability is required to further enhance the transfer characteristics of the semi-electroconductive belt. A method of enhancing the transfer characteristics by processing the surface of the semi-electroconductive belt has been proposed as one solution for the requirements. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-192901 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-316622, an effort has been made to enhance transfer efficiency by coating a fluorine compound having water repellency and oil repellency on the surface layer of the semi-electroconductive belt, in order to reduce an adhesive force of the surface layer of the semi-electroconductive belt.